The first Hogan was built in the underworld, the place where the Holy People or Navajo gods lived. According to Navajo legend, Talking God (Háásch elt í) instructed First Man and First Woman on how to construct and build a hogan.
Types Of Hogans
There are different types of hogan. The Navajo built hogans for the summer and for the winter. The winter hogan is made of packed adobe or mud, if it was was available. The mud or clay was used to cover the hogan with thick, winter-protective walls. In the summer they lived in summer hogans near their crop fields. Summer hogans were square or round, and the walls were made of thin poles to let summer breezes into the hogan to cool it.The roof was made of juniper boughs and leaves.Most hogans were houses where kids lived with their mother and father. People called these houses "women's hogans". Men also built smaller hogans, called "men's hogans", which men used for religious ceremonies and for a sweat bath. Hogans also differed according to location. The Navajo people in the Arctic regions of Canada have domed hogans built of snow which resemble igloos.
Navajo Summer Hogan
Summer Hogan
Navajo Winter Hogan
Winter Hogan
How Hogans are Built:
The Navajos used to make hogans, from wooden poles, tree bark and mud. You build a permanent hogan by laying wooden poles or logs on the ground, and then laying more poles on top of those poles, going around and around. When the walls are high enough you narrow them in to make a domed ceiling. Then you plaster over the wood with mud to fill in all the spaces between the poles. Navajo people always built hogans with the door on the east side, so the morning sun would come into their house. Hogans had dirt floors and only one room. If people needed more room, they built more hogans near their first one, so that a Navajo home often had a bunch of hogans, one for each wife if there were several wives in the family, and maybe a sweathouse also (to get clean in, like our bathrooms), and separate buildings for storing things in (like our basements or attics).Inside the hogan, women sat on the right, or the north side, where they kept their cooking things, and men sat on the left, or the south side. People slept on mats on the floor, with their feet toward the fire in the middle of the hogan. Summer hogans, or men's hogans were made in the same way as the traditional type of Navajo Hogan. These hogans were based on a framework created by standing three forked wooded sticks together like a tipi. Two poles were added to form the door that faced east. Other poles were used to fill the openings and the structure was covered with earth. So women hogans had horizontal logs in the walls, and a "men's hogan" usually had vertical poles in the walls.Today, many Navajo families still live in hogans, although trailers or more modern houses are replacing them.
Navajo Hogan by Wolfgang Staudt.
What the Hogans Mean:
The Navajo family's hogan, is a microcosm of their homeland. The posts of the hogan represent the four sacred mountains. The sections of the hogan correspond to the structures of the universe, for instance, the earthen floor represents Mother Earth and the round roof symbolises Father Sky. A hogan can never be abandoned unless it is struck by lightning or someone dies in it from a cause other than old age. The hogan is the site for all religious ceremonies, which sanctify it through use. The hogan constitutes one of the most sacred places for the members of a Navajo family and binds them to the land of their birth. Hogan in the Navajo language means "home place".
Anotated Bibliography
"Navjo Hogans." Navajo Hogans. Utah Web Design Springvile, Utah. 28 Nov. 2008 <http://navajopeople.org/navajo-hogans.htm>.
This website is very useful if you are looking for info about hogans or any other things. If you are not looking for info about hogans this website is still very good because it has one side bar that has many other subjects about the Navajo tribe.
ltsosie, Suzanne. "Eltsosie- Hogan." Eltsosie Hogans. Suzanne Eltsosie. 28 Nov. 2008 http://www.marquette.edu/library/neh/eltsosie/resource/hogan.htm>.
This is good but it is hard to read because of its small words and that it only has words. Besides that everything is useful.
Lassieur, Allison. The Navajo. Allison lassierur. 1-48.
This book was not really helpful for navajo hogans besause it only tells you the basic info. it is very easy to read though because on every page there are half as page of pictures and the font is quite big.
Navajo Shelter
Great Video Showing Navajo Hogan Being Built
Great Video Showing Navajo Hogan Being Built(Right click on the above link and open in a new tab or window)
The First Hogans
The first Hogan was built in the underworld, the place where the Holy People or Navajo gods lived. According to Navajo legend, Talking God (Háásch elt í) instructed First Man and First Woman on how to construct and build a hogan.Types Of Hogans
There are different types of hogan. The Navajo built hogans for the summer and for the winter. The winter hogan is made of packed adobe or mud, if it was was available. The mud or clay was used to cover the hogan with thick, winter-protective walls. In the summer they lived in summer hogans near their crop fields. Summer hogans were square or round, and the walls were made of thin poles to let summer breezes into the hogan to cool it. The roof was made of juniper boughs and leaves. Most hogans were houses where kids lived with their mother and father. People called these houses "women's hogans". Men also built smaller hogans, called "men's hogans", which men used for religious ceremonies and for a sweat bath. Hogans also differed according to location. The Navajo people in the Arctic regions of Canada have domed hogans built of snow which resemble igloos.How Hogans are Built:
The Navajos used to make hogans, from wooden poles, tree bark and mud. You build a permanent hogan by laying wooden poles or logs on the ground, and then laying more poles on top of those poles, going around and around. When the walls are high enough you narrow them in to make a domed ceiling. Then you plaster over the wood with mud to fill in all the spaces between the poles. Navajo people always built hogans with the door on the east side, so the morning sun would come into their house. Hogans had dirt floors and only one room. If people needed more room, they built more hogans near their first one, so that a Navajo home often had a bunch of hogans, one for each wife if there were several wives in the family, and maybe a sweathouse also (to get clean in, like our bathrooms), and separate buildings for storing things in (like our basements or attics). Inside the hogan, women sat on the right, or the north side, where they kept their cooking things, and men sat on the left, or the south side. People slept on mats on the floor, with their feet toward the fire in the middle of the hogan. Summer hogans, or men's hogans were made in the same way as the traditional type of Navajo Hogan. These hogans were based on a framework created by standing three forked wooded sticks together like a tipi. Two poles were added to form the door that faced east. Other poles were used to fill the openings and the structure was covered with earth. So women hogans had horizontal logs in the walls, and a "men's hogan" usually had vertical poles in the walls. Today, many Navajo families still live in hogans, although trailers or more modern houses are replacing them.
What the Hogans Mean:
The Navajo family's hogan, is a microcosm of their homeland. The posts of the hogan represent the four sacred mountains. The sections of the hogan correspond to the structures of the universe, for instance, the earthen floor represents Mother Earth and the round roof symbolises Father Sky. A hogan can never be abandoned unless it is struck by lightning or someone dies in it from a cause other than old age. The hogan is the site for all religious ceremonies, which sanctify it through use. The hogan constitutes one of the most sacred places for the members of a Navajo family and binds them to the land of their birth. Hogan in the Navajo language means "home place".Anotated Bibliography
"Navjo Hogans." Navajo Hogans. Utah Web Design Springvile, Utah. 28 Nov. 2008 <http://navajopeople.org/navajo-hogans.htm>.
This website is very useful if you are looking for info about hogans or any other things. If you are not looking for info about hogans this website is still very good because it has one side bar that has many other subjects about the Navajo tribe.
ltsosie, Suzanne. "Eltsosie- Hogan." Eltsosie Hogans. Suzanne Eltsosie. 28 Nov. 2008 http://www.marquette.edu/library/neh/eltsosie/resource/hogan.htm>.
This is good but it is hard to read because of its small words and that it only has words. Besides that everything is useful.
Lassieur, Allison. The Navajo. Allison lassierur. 1-48.
This book was not really helpful for navajo hogans besause it only tells you the basic info. it is very easy to read though because on every page there are half as page of pictures and the font is quite big.